Boy Next Door

"LORENZO!" I yelled into the phone. I decided to call Lauren because I felt bad that I basically left without saying goodbye last night.

"Oh hey! That's funny. I'm in the elevator going up to your floor right now," she chuckled. It was good knowing that she wasn't mad at me for not asking her when she and Mike are going out.

"Okay. Then we shall continue this conversation when you get here," I said. I patiently waited for Lauren's arrival. Lauren let herself in using the key I gave her and plopped herself right onto my couch.

"I'm here. Now tell me all about your date with Marc." She looked at me anxiously, shaking her leg the whole time.

"No. I want to know when you and Mike are going out," I said.

"Well he asked me over a text, which I didn't really like," she started.

"He's just really shy around girls. He wouldn't talk to me really for about a week," I said, defending him.

"I know, which is why I didn't get mad or turn him down. So anyways, he said that he was going to take me to Times Square, since I've never been to New York before. We are going to go on Friday, since I don't have classes the next day," she said, answering all of my questions before I asked them.

"Ugh. That reminds me. My classes start tomorrow," I said sadly. Luckily, I took as many of my classes as I could in my first three years of college so I would have a lot of time to have fun in my last year of school, find a job, and maybe even have time for a boyfriend.

"Ugh I know, I hate college life so far," Lauren whined. "Now tell me all about your date with Marc," Lauren said in an annoyed tone, most likely because she still didn't know yet.

"Well we went to this little Italian place for dinner and he refused to let me pay. Then I said I didn't want the night to end and he said good because he had something else planned. Then he ran out of the restaurant and I followed after him. Then I got past him because, well because I'm just awesome like that and ran right into Central Park. I'm guessing that's what he had planned because we didn't move the entire night." I smiled just thinking about Marc and our date last night.

"Oh my gosh. I'm sorry I keep running out on you, but I really have to go," she said sadly.

"It's okay. I know the beginning of freshman year is a little hectic," I said understandingly. She gave me a 'thank you' look and ran out the door. I was getting a call on my cell phone, so of course, I answered it.

"Hello."

"Hey Dannie. It's Brandon. We decided you are coming to our practice today because Matt and I haven't seen you in forever. We'll pick you up in about 45 minutes. Bye," he said, not even asking if I could go. It's probably a good thing I was.

I got up, showered, and put on my outfit in a matter of minutes. I sat down and watched some TV since I had some time to spare. I little while later I heard a heavy knock at the door. I got up, swung the door open, and yelled. "WHAT!" My eyes went wide at what I saw next; to hockey players tackling me down to the ground.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US YOU WENT OUT WITH MARC?" Matt yelled at me angrily.

"OR THAT YOU EVEN LIKE HIM?" Brandon yelled after him. I tried crawling out from underneath them. I desperately looked around the hall to see if anyone was there to help me.

"HEY! DUDE! HELP!" I screamed. He didn't even notice me and just kept walking away. In all of the commotion, I didn't even notice that Marc showed up. "Help?" I said sweetly. He looked at me and laughed. I looked at Matt and Brandon, and then back at Marc. "Please?" I asked again. He looked at me with an evil smile.

"I'll help you up... If you go on another date with me," he said. Okay, not that much of an evil idea.

"Okay. Now get these two gorillas off of me!" I chuckled. He smiled widely, then grabbed the two and pulled them off of me. "Thank you. Now, as for you two, I haven't seen you guys since we went to the diner. We went out last night for god's sake."

"I know, which was too long ago, which is why we are hanging out today," Matt said.

"Guys, we have to go. Mike's waiting in the car," Brandon said. Matt grabbed me and swung me over his shoulder. One disadvantage of having four hockey playing best friends is that they are about a million times stronger than you when it comes to upper-arm strength. Once I was tossed in the car, we drove off towards MSG for their practice.

Once we arrived, the guys told me just to go sit wherever my little heart desired, and that they would come get me once practice was over. I watched them skate laps and do drills for however many hours it was before the Marc came up to get me. I could tell he already showered and changed.

“Come with me. The guys want me to introduce you to the rest of the team,” Marc said as he grabbed my hand. He laced our fingers together as we walked down the hallways of the Garden.

I started thinking about how I haven’t really changed, or maybe I have, I’m not too sure. The only thing is that I would have been freaking out right now about meeting famous people. I guess that’s what happens when you’re around them all the time.

“Ugh, it’s really hot back here. Hold my sweatshirt for me,” I said as I took off my sweatshirt, just leaving me in my Cami.

"No you're not. Put your sweatshirt back on," he said while shoving my sweatshirt back at me.

"Why?" I whined.

"Just please put it back on, for me," he said. He gave me the puppy-dog face and I caved. I huffed and grabbed my sweatshirt out of his hands. He thanked me and laced our fingers together for the rest of the walk to the locker room.

Once we reached the door to the locker room, Marc slightly opened the door and stuck his head in, I'm guessing to make sure that everyone was dressed. He opened the door wider and I took that as my cue to walk in.

"Guys, this is Danielle. Danielle, this is the rest of the team," Marc said, introducing me. I gave a shy wave and a small smile. Eyes immediately went to our intertwined fingers. Marc took me around the locker room, introducing me to each of the guys personally. I thought that Brian Boyle was freaking hilarious. I felt my phone vibrating, so I politely excused myself and went out in the hall to take the call.

"Hello."

"Hey bitch," my sister, Maddie said on the other line.

"Oh hey! Oh my gosh, I haven't talked to you in forever!" I practically screamed into the phone.

"I know, I just called to see what's going on between you and Marc."

"Well. I told him how I feel, and he said he feels the same way. And yes, we did go out on a date. And yes, I will give you details, but not right now because I am about ten feet away from the Rangers locker room so I will talk to you later. Bye!" I said quickly and hung up the phone.

"Hey! Who are you?" I heard an angry voice shout from behind me. I turned on my heel and came face-to-face with John Tortorella and Glen Sather.

"She's with me," Marc said as he walked out from the locker room. He put his arm around me and I kind of hid in his side.

"I'm Danielle Longola. I'm a senior over at NYU," I said as I stuck my hand out for them to shake.

"Nice to meet you," John Tortorella said.

"So what are you studying?" Sather asked.

"Photography. Sports photography to be more specific," I stated.

"Hm, I might have to see your work. We could always use another photographer around here."

"So, Marc. Is this your girlfriend?" John Tortorella asked. I was completely caught off-guard by the question. Marc and I both looked at each other and shook our heads.

"Okay, well we better get going," Marc said, ushering me out of the room. I quietly asked Marc where we were going. He told me the team was going to go to Brian's house and basically lounge around his pool all day. We said good-bye to everyone before hopping in Mike’s car and heading back to each of our apartments.

I ran into my apartment, Marc following behind me, and straight to one of my cabinets. I pulled out a box of brownie mix and a bunch of other ingredients.

“You don’t have to make brownies Dannie,” Marc said.

“Well I’m going to be nice,” I responded. Marc rolled his eyes at me and I stuck my tongue out at him in return. I kept mixing ingredients together while Marc kept going on and on about how I am too nice sometimes. “If I let you lick the spoon, will you shut up?” I asked. He nodded his head like a child and ripped the spoon out of my hands.

I put the brownies in the oven and went to go get ready. I pulled out a bunch of things from my closet and assembled this. I walked back out just as the timer for the oven went off. I put the brownies on a plate and we left to go to Brian’s house.

Marc and I were one of the last one’s to arrive, so we headed straight for the back. I was shocked when we got to the back and I was the only girl there. I asked Marc if he knew that I would be the only girl he said yes. I elbowed him in the side and continued walking towards everyone else.

“Oh, yes! GUYS SHE BROUGHT BROWNIES!” Brian yelled. In about five seconds I was getting trampled by a bunch of hockey players. In a matter of five seconds, all of the brownies were gone. Annoyed, I set the plate down on one of the table and took off my clothes so I could work on getting a tan. I felt a lot of eyes on me when I was walking to the cooler to get a water bottle and saw Marc shoot them all glares. On my way over to one of the lounge chairs, I heard Marc call my name. I stopped and turned to see what he wanted. I saw him start to laugh and knew something was going on. Just then I heard someone running up to me and I got shoved into the water. I grabbed whoever’s arm it was and dragged them down with me.

When I resurfaced I looked at who I dragged into the pool with me. “I FUCKING HATE YOU GILROY! I AM SOOOOO GONNA GET YOU BACK!” I heard some snickers from behind me. “You think its funny Christensen?” I said as I got out of the pool.

“Ummm… No I do not,” he said. I guess he decided he didn’t want me to have to get him back, too. Instead, I opened my arms for a hug.

“Good choice of words,” I said as he gave me a hug. “But not good enough!” I screamed as I shoved him into the pool. I got a bunch of high-fives after that.

The rest of the day went pretty peacefully after that. We all just kind of hung out and were a bunch of lazy asses. Just before we all left, Erik announced, “I think this goes for all of us when I say that Dannie has to be one of the coolest girls I have ever met.” I had to smile at that.